Preview
FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246
NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023
STATE OF NEW YORK
SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF LEWIS
RONNIE DORRITY,
AFFIRMATION
Plaintiff,
Index No.: EFCA2017-000246
-against-
TERRY JAMES DORRITY,
Defendant.
STUART E. FINER, ESQ., an attorney duly licensed to practice law in the State of New
York affirms under the penalties of perjury, the following:
1. Your affirmant represents the Plaintiff, Ronnie Dorrity in this proceeding to
obtain an award of a money judgment against Terry James Dorrity.
2. As a result of the Arbitration and Hearing conducted before Honorable Samuel
Hester Supreme Court Judge, an award was granted to Ronnie Dorrity in the sum of
$102,676.18, plus interest on July 12,2022. As part of an enforcement proceeding, your
affirmant submitted an Information Subpoena with questions for Defendant Terry James Dorrity
to respond with detailed information about his financial condition.
3. Following months without a response, your affirmant filed this Motion for
Contempt for failure to comply with an Information Subpoena. There is no requirement,
jurisdiction or restriction that contempt of an Information Subpoena require a Court Order before
proceeding with contempt.
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4. The Defendant claims that he submitted a completed questions and answers to his
counsel Woodruff Carroll, and Woodruff Carroll claims that it was received but both parties
claim they somehow neglected to forward it to my office.
5. Upon receipt of the incomplete response to the Information Subpoena's questions
and answers, your affirmant advised Mr. Carroll that the Motion for Contempt would not be
withdrawn as the specifies that were not answered and still have not been answered leaves the
Defendant Terry James Dorrity in default.
6. Attached hereto is my email to Mr. Carroll outlining those aspects of the
Information Subpoena that were never answered. See Exhibit A
7. Mr. Carroll, on behalf of his client Terry James Dorrity, has requested that the
Court consider a stay of enforcement of the judgement based upon a surety executed by the
Defendant Terry James Dorrity. The surety claims that he owns real property in an area known
as TI Park and admits that the property contains a mortgage and that there is some equity that
would be sufficient to cover the amount of the Arbitration Award plus continued interest.
8. However, CPLR §5519 requires that an undertaking in the sum at least equal to
the amount of the Judgment which includes continuing interest, is either a cash undertaking or an
undertaking from an insurance company or bank. The offer of the property is inconsistent with
the requirements of the Statute.
9. Furthermore, your affirmant questions the veracity of the Affidavit of Terry James
Dorrity. In his Affidavit he claims that he is worth at least the amount specified in the
undertaking exclusive of liabilities, and then his attorney sets forth in a letter to the Court dated
February 20, 2023, attached hereto as Exhibit B, that in fact his client intends to file for
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Bankruptcy. This would indicate that the client is insolvent for bankruptcy proceedings and lied
in his surety statement.
10. There is no way that based upon these facts that the Court should consider to
accept the premises in TI Park as surety and/or bond to stay the enforcement action pending an
appeal. In addition, it is inappropriate and not permitted by statute that the Plaintiff, if successful
in defeating the appeal, would have to go through the time, expense, and cost of foreclosing the
property in order to collect on the judgment. This would create significant additional expense
years'
and approximately two time before Ronnie Dorrity would see any proceeds from the
foreclosure of a judgment, plus the risk of whatever mortgage would come first and other liens or
judgments against the property in view of the defendants threat of bankruptcy. However, since
the attorney for Terry James Dorrity now sets forth that Terry James Dorrity will file for
bankruptcy any enforcement action would be stayed and the claim would be addressed in
bankruptcy court-all to the harm and damage to the Plaintiff.
11. Affirmant also points out that during the course of the Arbitration Hearing it was
disclosed to the Arbitrator that at the time Terry James Dorrity, was banned by the Futures
Regulatory Authority, a finding had been made that Terry James Dorrity while he earned over
$2,000,000.00 in commissions, his clients lost money. It is disingenuous to believe that Terry
James Dorrity lost all of those proceeds and I suspect that they may have been improperly
transferred during the course of this action, which under New York State Debtor Creditor Law
can be set aside.
.
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12. In view of the assertions by Terry James Dorrity as a surety which lack
credibility, I would request that the Court compel Terry James Dorrity to provide the past four
years tax returns for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The surety is also deficient of an appraisal.
13. Terry James Dorrity, also in accordance with his business card that is attached
hereto as Exhibit C, is licensed as a Realtor in Florida and is licensed for the Sale of Insurance in
Florida, and upon information and belief, that a property worth over a Million dollars in Florida
was sold, and upon further information and belief, Terry James Dorrity received at the very least
a percentage of those proceeds.
15. I would also request that the Court compel Terry James Dorrity to provide
information with regard to his residence. It is common knowledge that TI Park is only opened as
a Village for a part of the year as the water and septic services close every fall. Does Terry
James Dorrity reside for a short period of time in New York, or does he reside for a period of
time in Pennsylvania per his mortgage document, or allegedly with his significant other, or does
he reside in Florida where he is licensed to receive revenue streams?
16. The affirmant therefore sets forth under §2503, upon which Mr. Carroll relies, to
submit an undertaking that it requires the Court to approve such an undertaking. As argued above
the court should deny the request.
17. Based upon the fact that Terry James Dorrity's surety is disingenuous, in that his
attorney also claims he will be filing bankruptcy, that the offer of the real property is not worth
the paper it's written upon. The enforcement proceeding should not be stayed unless Terry
James Dorrity submits either a surety bond from an insurance company or puts up the money for
the value of the Judgment and the ongoing interest in a minimum amount of $110,000.00.
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18. Furthermore, if Terry James Dorrity as represented to the Court, that he intends to
file for bankruptcy he must have more liabilities than what are disclosed in his surety affidavit
and therefore his failure to divulge all of the liabilities, debts that would make him insolvent he is
not entitled to stay the execution with his surety offering the real property where it is clear the
real property will never be available for collection of Ronnie Dorrity's Judgment. See Anamdi v
Anugo 260 AD2d 329(Second Department 1999).
19. Therefore, your affirmant requests that the Defendant Terry James Dorrity's cross
appeal for a stay be denied in its entirety unless he provides a cash or insurance bond and that
Plaintiff Ronnie Dorrity be awarded costs and attorney's fees as authorized by §2308 of the
CPLR and further direct Terry James Dorrity to respond and answer those questions that were
asked in the Information Subpoena and that he be compelled to answer within a set period of
time.
20. I will confirm that after a Judgment was granted by Judge Hester, attorney Carroll
and I had a brief telephone conversation about Terry James Dorrity's assets and a statement by
Mr. Carroll that bankruptcy was not probable as he had too many assets to file for bankruptcy
and we had a limited discussion without an indefinite period of time to stay enforcement. I do
not have a recollection that I agreed to an indefinite stay of enforcement proceedings and in
particular with the threat of bankruptcy. Furthermore Defendant was able to afford counsel for
nearly a week of trial, preparation for trial, and hired an expert to attend virtually the entire
hearing and paid for counsel to bring an appeal. Yet he claims he has no money!
21 Lastly based upon the limited statutory standard to succeed on an appeal of an
arbitration award, I doubt defendants appeal will have success. Under CPLR §7511 the only
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grounds for vacating an Arbitration Award are: 1) corruption, fraud or misconduct in procuring
the award or 2) partiality of an Arbitrator appointed as a neutral or 3) an Arbitrator making the
award exceeded his power or so imperfectly executed it that a final and definite award upon the
subject matter or submitted was not made, or 4) failure to follow the procedure of this article,
unless the party applying to vacate the award continued with the Arbitration with notice of the
defect and without objection,
Grounds for modifying the award are limited to: 1) a miscalculation of figures or mistake
in the description of any person, thing, or property referred to in the award or 2) the Arbitrators
have awarded upon the matter not submitted to them and the award may be corrected without
affecting the merits of the decision upon the issues submitted or 3) the award is imperfect in the
matter of form not affecting the merits of the controversy.
Based upon the requirements of CPLR §7511 the chances of the Appellate Court vacating
or modifying the award are "slim or none", in my opinion.
Consistent with the public policy in favor of Arbitration, the grounds specified in CPLR
§7511 for vacating or modifying an Arbitration Award are few in number and narrowly applied.
"Courts are reluctant to disturb the decision of arbitrators lest the value of this method of
undermined."
resolving controversies be Goldfinger v. Lisker, 1986, 68 N.Y. 2d 225, 230, 508
N.Y. 2d 159, 161.
WHEREFORE, affirmant requests that the Court deny in its entirety the Cross-Appeal for
a Stay without a cash bond or a surety bond by a licensed Insurance Company and that the
Defendant Terry James Dorrity be compelled to respond to complete information request in the
information subpoena that were omitted as set forth in my letter to Mr. Carroll and that your
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affirmant be granted reasonable attorney's fees and costs as provided by Statute for failure to
comply with the Information Subpoena resulting in the Contempt Proceeding now pending
before this Court.
Dated: March 1, 2023
STUART . FINER, ESQ.
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Preview
FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 STATE OF NEW YORK SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF LEWIS RONNIE DORRITY, AFFIRMATION Plaintiff, Index No.: EFCA2017-000246 -against- TERRY JAMES DORRITY, Defendant. STUART E. FINER, ESQ., an attorney duly licensed to practice law in the State of New York affirms under the penalties of perjury, the following: 1. Your affirmant represents the Plaintiff, Ronnie Dorrity in this proceeding to obtain an award of a money judgment against Terry James Dorrity. 2. As a result of the Arbitration and Hearing conducted before Honorable Samuel Hester Supreme Court Judge, an award was granted to Ronnie Dorrity in the sum of $102,676.18, plus interest on July 12,2022. As part of an enforcement proceeding, your affirmant submitted an Information Subpoena with questions for Defendant Terry James Dorrity to respond with detailed information about his financial condition. 3. Following months without a response, your affirmant filed this Motion for Contempt for failure to comply with an Information Subpoena. There is no requirement, jurisdiction or restriction that contempt of an Information Subpoena require a Court Order before proceeding with contempt. 1 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 4. The Defendant claims that he submitted a completed questions and answers to his counsel Woodruff Carroll, and Woodruff Carroll claims that it was received but both parties claim they somehow neglected to forward it to my office. 5. Upon receipt of the incomplete response to the Information Subpoena's questions and answers, your affirmant advised Mr. Carroll that the Motion for Contempt would not be withdrawn as the specifies that were not answered and still have not been answered leaves the Defendant Terry James Dorrity in default. 6. Attached hereto is my email to Mr. Carroll outlining those aspects of the Information Subpoena that were never answered. See Exhibit A 7. Mr. Carroll, on behalf of his client Terry James Dorrity, has requested that the Court consider a stay of enforcement of the judgement based upon a surety executed by the Defendant Terry James Dorrity. The surety claims that he owns real property in an area known as TI Park and admits that the property contains a mortgage and that there is some equity that would be sufficient to cover the amount of the Arbitration Award plus continued interest. 8. However, CPLR §5519 requires that an undertaking in the sum at least equal to the amount of the Judgment which includes continuing interest, is either a cash undertaking or an undertaking from an insurance company or bank. The offer of the property is inconsistent with the requirements of the Statute. 9. Furthermore, your affirmant questions the veracity of the Affidavit of Terry James Dorrity. In his Affidavit he claims that he is worth at least the amount specified in the undertaking exclusive of liabilities, and then his attorney sets forth in a letter to the Court dated February 20, 2023, attached hereto as Exhibit B, that in fact his client intends to file for 2 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 Bankruptcy. This would indicate that the client is insolvent for bankruptcy proceedings and lied in his surety statement. 10. There is no way that based upon these facts that the Court should consider to accept the premises in TI Park as surety and/or bond to stay the enforcement action pending an appeal. In addition, it is inappropriate and not permitted by statute that the Plaintiff, if successful in defeating the appeal, would have to go through the time, expense, and cost of foreclosing the property in order to collect on the judgment. This would create significant additional expense years' and approximately two time before Ronnie Dorrity would see any proceeds from the foreclosure of a judgment, plus the risk of whatever mortgage would come first and other liens or judgments against the property in view of the defendants threat of bankruptcy. However, since the attorney for Terry James Dorrity now sets forth that Terry James Dorrity will file for bankruptcy any enforcement action would be stayed and the claim would be addressed in bankruptcy court-all to the harm and damage to the Plaintiff. 11. Affirmant also points out that during the course of the Arbitration Hearing it was disclosed to the Arbitrator that at the time Terry James Dorrity, was banned by the Futures Regulatory Authority, a finding had been made that Terry James Dorrity while he earned over $2,000,000.00 in commissions, his clients lost money. It is disingenuous to believe that Terry James Dorrity lost all of those proceeds and I suspect that they may have been improperly transferred during the course of this action, which under New York State Debtor Creditor Law can be set aside. . 3 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 12. In view of the assertions by Terry James Dorrity as a surety which lack credibility, I would request that the Court compel Terry James Dorrity to provide the past four years tax returns for 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The surety is also deficient of an appraisal. 13. Terry James Dorrity, also in accordance with his business card that is attached hereto as Exhibit C, is licensed as a Realtor in Florida and is licensed for the Sale of Insurance in Florida, and upon information and belief, that a property worth over a Million dollars in Florida was sold, and upon further information and belief, Terry James Dorrity received at the very least a percentage of those proceeds. 15. I would also request that the Court compel Terry James Dorrity to provide information with regard to his residence. It is common knowledge that TI Park is only opened as a Village for a part of the year as the water and septic services close every fall. Does Terry James Dorrity reside for a short period of time in New York, or does he reside for a period of time in Pennsylvania per his mortgage document, or allegedly with his significant other, or does he reside in Florida where he is licensed to receive revenue streams? 16. The affirmant therefore sets forth under §2503, upon which Mr. Carroll relies, to submit an undertaking that it requires the Court to approve such an undertaking. As argued above the court should deny the request. 17. Based upon the fact that Terry James Dorrity's surety is disingenuous, in that his attorney also claims he will be filing bankruptcy, that the offer of the real property is not worth the paper it's written upon. The enforcement proceeding should not be stayed unless Terry James Dorrity submits either a surety bond from an insurance company or puts up the money for the value of the Judgment and the ongoing interest in a minimum amount of $110,000.00. 4 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 18. Furthermore, if Terry James Dorrity as represented to the Court, that he intends to file for bankruptcy he must have more liabilities than what are disclosed in his surety affidavit and therefore his failure to divulge all of the liabilities, debts that would make him insolvent he is not entitled to stay the execution with his surety offering the real property where it is clear the real property will never be available for collection of Ronnie Dorrity's Judgment. See Anamdi v Anugo 260 AD2d 329(Second Department 1999). 19. Therefore, your affirmant requests that the Defendant Terry James Dorrity's cross appeal for a stay be denied in its entirety unless he provides a cash or insurance bond and that Plaintiff Ronnie Dorrity be awarded costs and attorney's fees as authorized by §2308 of the CPLR and further direct Terry James Dorrity to respond and answer those questions that were asked in the Information Subpoena and that he be compelled to answer within a set period of time. 20. I will confirm that after a Judgment was granted by Judge Hester, attorney Carroll and I had a brief telephone conversation about Terry James Dorrity's assets and a statement by Mr. Carroll that bankruptcy was not probable as he had too many assets to file for bankruptcy and we had a limited discussion without an indefinite period of time to stay enforcement. I do not have a recollection that I agreed to an indefinite stay of enforcement proceedings and in particular with the threat of bankruptcy. Furthermore Defendant was able to afford counsel for nearly a week of trial, preparation for trial, and hired an expert to attend virtually the entire hearing and paid for counsel to bring an appeal. Yet he claims he has no money! 21 Lastly based upon the limited statutory standard to succeed on an appeal of an arbitration award, I doubt defendants appeal will have success. Under CPLR §7511 the only 5 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 grounds for vacating an Arbitration Award are: 1) corruption, fraud or misconduct in procuring the award or 2) partiality of an Arbitrator appointed as a neutral or 3) an Arbitrator making the award exceeded his power or so imperfectly executed it that a final and definite award upon the subject matter or submitted was not made, or 4) failure to follow the procedure of this article, unless the party applying to vacate the award continued with the Arbitration with notice of the defect and without objection, Grounds for modifying the award are limited to: 1) a miscalculation of figures or mistake in the description of any person, thing, or property referred to in the award or 2) the Arbitrators have awarded upon the matter not submitted to them and the award may be corrected without affecting the merits of the decision upon the issues submitted or 3) the award is imperfect in the matter of form not affecting the merits of the controversy. Based upon the requirements of CPLR §7511 the chances of the Appellate Court vacating or modifying the award are "slim or none", in my opinion. Consistent with the public policy in favor of Arbitration, the grounds specified in CPLR §7511 for vacating or modifying an Arbitration Award are few in number and narrowly applied. "Courts are reluctant to disturb the decision of arbitrators lest the value of this method of undermined." resolving controversies be Goldfinger v. Lisker, 1986, 68 N.Y. 2d 225, 230, 508 N.Y. 2d 159, 161. WHEREFORE, affirmant requests that the Court deny in its entirety the Cross-Appeal for a Stay without a cash bond or a surety bond by a licensed Insurance Company and that the Defendant Terry James Dorrity be compelled to respond to complete information request in the information subpoena that were omitted as set forth in my letter to Mr. Carroll and that your 6 of 7 FILED: LEWIS COUNTY CLERK 03/02/2023 02:32 PM INDEX NO. EFCA2017-000246 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 83 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 03/02/2023 affirmant be granted reasonable attorney's fees and costs as provided by Statute for failure to comply with the Information Subpoena resulting in the Contempt Proceeding now pending before this Court. Dated: March 1, 2023 STUART . FINER, ESQ. 7 of 7